The Teaching Portfolio: Who Wants to See It and What Goes In It?

1. The Teaching Portfolio: Who Wants to See It and What Goes In It? Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences On the Cutting Edge – Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty Kirsten Menking, Vassar College

2. What is it? • A record of teaching highlights created by you • Used in your evaluation process

3. Who wants to see it? • At Vassar College: • Senior members of the department • Dean of Faculty • Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (five member cross-divisional committee) • President of the College • Find out who your audience is and tailor accordingly

4. What’s the purpose of the portfolio? • To give evaluators a sense of who you are as a teacher. For example: • What do you want your students to learn? • How do you run your classroom? • How do you keep students engaged? • How do you assess student mastery of skills/content? • To allow you to reflect on and improve your teaching

5. Components: course syllabi EARTH, ENVIRONMENT, AND HUMANITYTextbooks: Merritts, DeWet, and Menking, Environmental Geology Kirsten Menking Office: Ely 115, Phone: 437-5545 McPhee, The Control of Nature Office hours: Tuesdays 1-5 or by appointment. Schneiderman, The Earth Around Us Course Description: This course revolves around four central themes which are intertwined throughout the semester. These themes include: 1) How does the Earth work? In this portion of the class we will discuss the composition and processes associated with the different components of the Earth: the rock and soil sphere, the oceans, groundwater and surface water, and the atmosphere. We will also examine how these different components interact to create the climate and the environments we live in. 2) Earth’s impact on humans. This part of the class will address geologic hazards such as flooding, landslides, and earthquakes, and, will not only explain how these hazards come about, but will also empower students to make informed choices regarding where they may want to avoid purchasing real estate in the future! 3) Human impacts on the Earth. This part of the course will address topics such as acid rain and ozone depletion, global warming, and soil erosion. In all cases, the importance of geology to an understanding of the environmental problem will be emphasized. 4) Earth resources and hazards of resource extraction and use. This topic will primarily involve human use of energy resources including the traditional fossil fuels and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power. Questions of what to do with nuclear waste, how to conserve energy resources, and potential policy and lifestyle changes will be debated. Because this course fulfills the quantitative analysis requirement, many lab exercises will allow students to brush up on their math skills in addition to polishing their writing. All work involving math will be approached from the ground up in a thoroughly encouraging, non-threatening environment. DATE DAY CLASS READINGS LAB 1/25 Tuesday Lithosphere: Minerals and Rocks 53-55, 100-102 1/27 Thursday Lithosphere: Rocks continued 111-120 1/27 Thursday Rocks

6. Example exercises/labs/writing assignments • GEOLOGY 151: EARTH, ENVIRONMENT, AND HUMANITY • REACTION PAPER #1 – POLITICS OF GEOLOGIC HAZARD PREDICTION • DUE MARCH 1, 2005 • During the course of the semester you will have the opportunity to write a 3-5 page reaction paper from a list of three topics we will discuss in class. These reaction papers should include: • detailed information regarding the environmental issue of interest • a discussion of the uncertainties that make dealing with this issue thorny from a policy standpoint • a thoughtful analysis of the pros and cons of different actions taken • Your suggestions for better courses of action. • The first reaction paper will deal with the political ramifications of geologic hazard prediction. We will view a video about the events leading up to the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. This eruption was catastrophic, leaving 250,000 Philippinos homeless, and completely destroying a United States air force base there. Another American base, Subik Bay naval base, was also badly damaged in the eruption. The video chronicles the work of United States Geological Survey volcanologists as they sought to predict whether an eruption was imminent, how extensive the impact of the eruption might be, and whether to evacuate the population.

7. Sample exam questions Place the rock units and events in chronological order (1/2 point each for a total of 8 points):

8. Study guides GEOMORPHOLOGY MIDTERM TOPICS AND EXAMPLE PROBLEMS You may bring one 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper with you into the exam on which you can write anything you like (front and back is fine). Be sure to bring a pencil, eraser, and a calculator. The topics we have covered in the last 6 weeks are: Drainage basins and networks • divides • drainage network types – dendritic, rectangular, trellis, radial, etc. • influence of rock type and structure on drainage network pattern • influence of drainage area and rock type on stream longitudinal profile • stream order • magnitude, mean source height, drainage density

9. Samples of graded work

10. Components • Course syllabi • Example exercises/labs/writing assignments • Sample exam questions • Study guides • Samples of graded work • Assemble your portfolio, then write your teaching statement around your materials

11. What do you think is important for students to learn and why? General knowledge. For example: • developing scientific writing skills • understanding scientific method • learning how to collect and analyze data • how to apply math to solve scientific problems • how to read scientifically

12. Specific knowledge • Show you understand that teaching 100-level students is not the same as teaching senior seminar students • 100-level - most students won't go on to study your discipline, so what do you want them to take away for life? • 200-level - learn methods of the discipline, build knowledge base • 300-level - veteran students, begin to see what questions are important in the field, conduct their own independent research

13. How do you go about meeting your instructional goals? • Do you lecture, discuss, do demonstrations, guided inquiry, small-group exercises?

14. What’s the atmosphere of your classroom? • How do you ensure that all students feel invited to participate? • How do you offer encouragement and let students feel comfortable with failure? • How do you accommodate different learning styles?

15. Assessment • What kinds of assignments do you have students complete? • What are the pedagogical goals of those assignments? • How do you evaluate them?

16. Portfolio Organization • By course • By pedagogy • Include table of contents • Section dividers • Make navigation easy for your evaluators

17. Demonstrate an ongoing engagement with perfecting the art of teaching by: • Trying new ideas • Attending educational workshops • Learning from team teachers • Learning from course evaluations • Talking about where you want to take your teaching in the future

18. The review process can seem daunting, so: • Remember that you've done a lot of hard work to be where you are today, that you're smart and capable, and that this portfolio gives you a chance to shine! • Questions?